BERLIN (WiMAX Day). The German WiMAX operator Deutsche Breitband Dienste GmbH (DBD) has introduced a new wireless VoIP service for which customers require neither a fixed -s in Germany.

DBD is marketing two products: “MAXXonair Clever” and “MAXXonair Comfort,” which combine two types of high-speed Internet and Voice with ISDN quality. MAXXonair Clever is provided at a monthly fee of € 29.99, with Internet access at speeds up to 2 Mbps, including a flat-rate for data. MAXXonair Comfort is offered to consumers for a monthly rate of € 39.99, which includes an additional telephone flat-rate for calls within the German fixed-line network. After a short trial period, both products will be offered in all other DBD networks.

VoIP everywhere
“With this offering we open a new chapter in the history of WiMAX,” said Fabio Zoffi, CEO of DBD. “In addition we’re driving the trend from fixed to mobile, meaning away from the fixed network towards wireless telephony and data communications.”

Because the WiMAX standard separates voice and data flows, DBD can offer Internet telephony comparable with ISDN quality. Customers also can keep their existing phone number and connect it to the service. After the MAXXonair connection has been installed, the user only must connect the existing phone to the Fritz!Box VoIP router included in the package.

DBD is not the only WiMAX operator profiting from VoIP services. WiMAX Telecom in Austria offers a VoIP service using the brand name “WiMAX Fon.” The service allows customers to switch their home telephone line from the fixed-line operator and offers number portability. Likewise, Unwired in Australia and Irish Broadband in Ireland are also offering similar versions of VoIP services.

The case for VoIP is growing in Europe. According to Forrester Research, some 12 percent of consumers in Europe now use VoIP for all or some of their telephone calls. This seems to be in line with statistics in Germany where nearly 11 percent of German households no longer own a fixed-line telephone.

Other innovations
“During the coming years DBD will deploy its WiMAX network throughout Germany. Thus everybody will be able to use the Internet from anywhere at anytime,” Zoffi noted in a company press release. DBD plans to offer more innovative WiMAX applications, including portable Internet access. DBD customers on the road will be able to access the Internet with their laptop computers wherever WiMAX is available. It is expected that Intel – a strategic investor in DBD – will start to equip laptop computers and notebooks with WiMAX chips in 2008.